2 suits hit Nicor amid accounting, other woes

Two shareholder lawsuits were filed against Naperville-based Nicor Inc. Monday, following a plunge in the company's stock value in response to news of accounting irregularities and other concerns.

In U.S. District Court in Chicago, a suit seeking class-action status alleges that Nicor violated federal securities law by issuing false and misleading financial statements and press releases from January to July of this year. The suit, filed on behalf of shareholder Rick Singer, names Nicor Chairman and CEO Thomas L. Fisher and Kathleen L. Halloran, executive vice president of finance and administration.

Separately, a Nicor Gas customer filed a lawsuit Monday in Cook County Circuit Court, accusing the company of using deceptive accounting practices to artificially inflate gas prices.

The lawsuit filed by Matthew Scholp of Joliet claims Nicor manipulated benchmark gas prices through its Gas Cost Performance Program. The state-regulated program provides Nicor with an incentive to buy natural gas below market rates, using a benchmark established by several price indexes, according to the suit.

The Naperville-based energy company on Friday disclosed accounting irregularities in an unregulated unit, Nicor Energy. The unit is a partnership with Houston-based Dynegy Inc.

That news followed an anonymous whistleblower's memo that surfaced in June alleging that Nicor's state-regulated gas service had manipulated its accounting to cheat customers out of millions of dollars. The 14-page memo led regulators to reopen an investigation into Nicor along with a state police and attorney general's office investigation of possible crime.

On Monday Nicor stock closed at $23.24. The stock had reached a 52-week high of $49 in June.